


Keeper of the Queer Cities

by speck_of_dust



Category: Keeper of the Lost Cities Series - Shannon Messenger
Genre: But they're all still LGBTQ+, Everyone Is Gay, Gay-OTLC, Have a gay day!, Multi, So no cishets, That was terrible I'm sorry, We have some straight characters!, actually, no, wait
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-24
Updated: 2020-11-24
Packaged: 2021-03-10 03:34:18
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,160
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27687002
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/speck_of_dust/pseuds/speck_of_dust
Summary: All of my LGBTQ+ headcanons for KOTLC characters, complete with explanations, caps lock, an abundance of keyboard smashing, and far too many strikethroughs. Some of them make sense, some of them don't, but welcome to the weird world of my gay brain!
Comments: 8
Kudos: 23





	Keeper of the Queer Cities

**Author's Note:**

> Dear reader, I have something to tell you.  
> You're an elf.  
> *Whispering from Assistant*  
> Oh! Sorry. *Clears throat* You're here, you're queer, and now, I will light leap on a rainbow and take you to the Queer Cities. Enjoy your stay!  
> (How the scene in book one should have gone, lmao.)  
> But yeah, here are a compilation of my favorite LGBTQ+ Keeper headcanons. Not all of them, since I have about a million that conflict, but here are my favorites.

**Headcanons**

Sophie: 

  * Cis female
  * She/Her
  * [Omnisexual](https://lgbta.wikia.org/wiki/Omnisexual)
  * Why? She's attracted to people of all genders but expresses a preference for boys (ew... boys) and definitely factors in gender when her internal monologue talks about how hot everyone is.
  * ~~To be fair, if I lived in the Lost Cities where everyone is super aTtRaCtIvE, I'd spend a lot of time thinking about the gorgeous girls too.~~



Biana:

  * Cis female
  * She/Her
  * Lesbian!
  * Why? Well, ~~mostly the pun lmao,~~ her thing for Keefe is just so [comphet](https://aminoapps.com/c/lgbt-1/page/blog/all-about-compulsory-heterosexuality/xpRK_j4gF2uWJYxn7lPZE4QPZeb5dgVPmxQ) I can't even- slkajfdlksfjadlsk. She's a total lipstick lesbian, and I'm pretty sure she's old enough to get her match list but hasn't. Why? Because she won't get girls on her list and that's the only gender she wants.
  * ~~Plus a little bit of wishful thinking alkdjfalskfjsdalkfjsadlkj.~~



Linh:

  * Trans female
  * She/Her
  * [Sapphic](https://lgbta.wikia.org/wiki/Sapphic) ace
  * Why? Well, Shannon has described her and Tam as identical, meaning they would have the same sex chromosomes, but have different gender identities. Clearly, then, one of them is trans. I chose Linh because she was the one to get kicked out by her parents who are undoubtedly bigoted.
  * She's sapphic because, I mean, there are a ton of boys interested in her, but she never likes any of them back. Plus, in Legacy, Marella strongly indicates that Linh's crush is a girl. But not everyone needs a label to be valid, and Linh's sexuality is probably very fluid (fluid=water) so she just goes with the umbrella term "sapphic."
  * And I think she's ace because I can easily picture her going "Yeah, sex is great and all, but what about cuddling murcats? Ahh so cute!"



Tam:

  * Cis male
  * He/Him
  * Gay and possibly demi.
  * Why? It seems he has a lot of comhet for Biana and a lot of contempt for the hetero matchmaking system. His short story reveals no feelings for Glimmer, even when Shannon has had no problem making the special POVs about romance in the past, so clearly Tam is not interested in girls. Everyone knows he has a small ~~or maybe not so small~~ crush on Keefe.
  * I also think he might be demi, just because he would undoubtedly roll his eyes at the concept of "love at first sight."



Keefe:

  * Trans male
  * He/Him
  * Chaotic bisexual (I love how I add 'chaotic' in there like it's another sexuality factor kjdaflaskdfjsldak. But then again, I've accepted 'disaster' as part of my lesbian identity, soo...)
  * Why? He's very reluctant to show Sophie memories from his past, possibly because he doesn't know how her human upbringing impacted her views on trans issues and is worried about whether he'd appear as female in those memories and, if so, how she'd react. Lord Cassius's attitude towards him might also be because of Keefe being trans, since he's undoubtedly a bigot. And perhaps Gisela's grand plan called for a female legacy instead of male, so he's been ruining her plans from the start, and that's why she's so determined to make everything else work.
  * And he's bisexual because he would definitely flirt with guys as well as girls. Plus, he's very similar to a lot of other bi characters in other books ~~(Jesper from SoC?)~~
  * This isn't related to my specific headcanons, but as we all know, Keefe is an artist, and the LGBTQ+ community seems to have higher levels of interest in creative hobbies than cishets. ~~I mean, most of the writers on here are queer kajlkjflkafjasd.~~
  * Editing Simone- just remembered, Sophie has seen him shirtless! Crapmuffins. Perhaps she was too distracted by his gLoRiOuS aBs to notice a binder? Or maybe he was on blockers and never developed boobs in the first place, idk.
  * (Akdsjfalkjkljkdf I love how I make fun of girls liking guys' abs but ~~secretly want a six pack of my own for girls to fawn over~~ girls with abs are so skfjasdlkfjsdalk.)



Dex:

  * Masc-aligned nonbinary or [demiboy](https://lgbta.wikia.org/wiki/Demiboy)
  * He/him and [xe/xem](https://lgbta.wikia.org/wiki/Neopronouns#Xe).
  * Pan
  * Why? I honestly just saw the nonbinary Dex headcanon somewhere and fell in love with it akdjfaslkfj. But xe seems masc-alligned in the canonical series, so xe's not completely androgynous/neutrois. The way Dex feels about 'tRaDiTiOnAL' elfy views would definitely match up with xem wanting to destroy the gender binary. And xe/xem pronouns just feel very _Dex_ to me. But he/him works too.
  * Xe's mostly pan for the pun (PanDexual). But for xem, it's sort of like "I'm into Sophie! I'm into Fitz! Gender doesn't matter! Everyone is hot! I'm just a nERDY ENBY H E L P !"



Fitz:

  * Cis male
  * He/Him
  * Aroace
  * Why? Everything he "felt" for Sophie seemed very forced, and their relationship in Legacy seemed more like Fitz was trying to keep to what the ideal of a relationship "should be" in his mind rather than his actual feelings. Becoming cognates was out of a desire for a closer platonic relationship rather than romance. He went and got all of his match lists early, possibly in the hopes that he'd eventually "find the right person." And of course, he's seventeen years old and never once been interested in anyone other than a fake crush on Sophie. That doesn't sound very A L L O R O M A N T I C to me. 



Wylie: 

  * Cis male
  * He/Him
  * Heteroromantic ace ( ~~so technically he's the token straight~~ , but he's also LGBTQ- oh wait! I just remembered! We have another token hetero who is still LGBTQ. No cishets.)
  * Why? I couldn't find any evidence that he wasn't straight but we obviously can't allow cishets here! So ace it is. Also, he seems to want a [QPR](https://lgbta.wikia.org/wiki/Queerplatonic_Relationship) with Linh, which is not limited to a-spec people, but commonly is. (And Linh, also ace, is in a QPR with him.) 



Marella:

  * Cis female
  * She/Her
  * Lesbian
  * Why? Well, she clearly had a crush on Biana towards the beginning. "Princess Prettypants." Does that sound straight to you? It really does NOT to me alkjdfs. When she manifested as a Pyrokinetic, she didn't seem all that torn up about being labeled "talentless" on her match lists, even though that would eliminate a vast majority of the elvin population and give her very few matches. Why? Well, maybe she already knew she wouldn't be matched with anyone she wanted... B E C A U S E S H E ' S G A Y.
  * ~~Also, Marella would love flannels, sitting incorrectly in chairs, and Girl In Red. Change my mind.~~



Stina:

  * Trans female
  * She/Her
  * ~~Ah, here's our token straight!~~
  * Why? First off, she's described as being quite tall for a girl, which would make sense if she was AMAB. When Dex makes her go bald, she's _really_ upset. I mean, I'd be annoyed if I lost all my hair too, but she was more dramatic about it than I'd be. ~~And I'm a _total_ drama queen~~. Perhaps Stina viewed her hair as one of the the things that helped her feel more feminine, and losing that made her feel like a boy? Also, she's very alienated from the rest of the Foxfire population, possibly due to past bullying and/or unwillingness to get close to anyone for fear of facing transphobia. 
  * And she's straight because I didn't get any gaydar vibes from her, plus we need a real token straight.



Bex:

  * Genderqueer
  * They/Them
  * Bi
  * Why? I have a feeling at least one of the triplets is genderqueer. Bex is the one I chose because their ability is Phaser, which could represent the opaqueness of their gender? ~~I don't really know dakfjdlskf.~~
  * But seriously, at least one of the triplets has to be genderqueer.
  * I'm pretty sure they're canonically interested in boys, but I also lowkey ship them with Amy. So bi it is!



Rex:

  * Cis male
  * He/Him
  * Aro-spec.
  * Disinterested in romance at the moment, but open to the possibility in the future, so he doesn't want to define himself as solidly aromantic.
  * Why? I literally have no idea. He does seem to be least interested in romance out of the three, though.
  * "Why would I date someone when I could cause as much chaos as elvinly possible!?"



Lex:

  * Cis male
  * He/Him
  * [Heteroflexible](https://lgbta.wikia.org/wiki/Heteroflexible) polyamorous
  * Why? ~~No particular reasoning.~~ Definitely into girls but might be willing to experiment with a guy at some point. Doesn't understand why it's only socially acceptable to love one person.



Forkle:

  * Genderfluid, between male and agender.
  * He/Him or They/Them
  * Aroace
  * Why? Well, his middle name is _Loki._ And he inspired many of the Loki myths. For those who don't know, Loki is one of the most genderfluid genderfluids to ever genderfluid. That seems P R E T T Y G E N D E R F L U I D T O M E . I headcanon both twins as genderfluid but one being male and the other being agender also makes sense. 
  * He's aroace because he's never expressed an interest in romance. The end.



Tiergan:

  * Cis male
  * He/Him
  * Gay
  * But like that's basically canon already
  * I mean, he _clearly_ had a thing with Prentice alkdjfsalkfjdsl
  * This isn't even a headcanon, it is a F A C T .



Prentice:

  * Cis male
  * He/Him
  * Bi
  * Again, canon already.



Elwin:

  * Nonbinary
  * They/Them
  * Gay/[androsexual](https://lgbta.wikia.org/wiki/Androsexual)
  * Why? Honestly, I just kinda got that vibe from them ldksjfaldksfjdsalk. But it's possible that the reason they got into medicine was to work on elixirs that would help dysphoria, preform medical transitions on other trans people, and otherwise treat conditions commonly found within the trans community (damage from binding, eating disorders, etc). ~~But I mostly just want them to be nonbinary qadslfkjaslk.~~



Sandor: 

  * Trans male
  * He/him
  * Straight- what is this? A third hetero? 
  * Why? The squeaky voice was my first indicator, so maybe his gobliny voice hasn't dropped to a masculine range yet. I know Shannon just included that because "iT's FuNnY fOr ThE sUpEr ScArY bOdYgUaRd To SoUnD sQuEaKy-" but the trans vibes though-. He got very annoyed with having to disguise himself as an old lady in Everblaze. I think it was Everblaze. One of the earlier books, anyway. I just checked the KOTLC Wiki to see if they knew, but nope. Sandor's page also mentions that he usually goes shirtless, ~~which does _not_ help my case~~, but... uh... maybe the goblin options for top surgery are really good? He could easily just have scars on his chest and let Sophie assume they're from battle. 



Oralie

  * Trans female
  * She/Her
  * Aroace (QPR with Kenric)
  * Why? She's hundreds of years old, so it's possible the transitioning technology was not as good. Her female reproductive system never properly developed, so she really couldn't have a child without project Moonlark. Her love of pink and sparkles and such could be because she felt a need to repress it when she was younger, so now that she's "allowed" to like girly stuff, she really goes all out.
  * For aroace, it would make sense why someone would become a councillor if they literally don't feel attraction, making the "nO mArRyInG" thing a lot easier. It's always Kenric flirting with her, never the other way around- so she definitely cared deeply for him, but it might not have been romantic. She had a squish on him, and possibly at some point before his death, came out as aroace and interested in a QPR. He agreed. Canonically, she got all five match lists early, which could have been because she was desperate to "find the right person."
  * She could also be bi but aroace Oralie has stolen my heart and will never return it.
  * (Thanks to @TheDarkChocolateLord for giving me this idea and presenting the evidence)



Bronte

  * Cis male
  * He/Him
  * Aroace
  * Why? Come on, it's obvious.



Della:

  * Cis female
  * She/Her
  * Polysexual 
  * Why? I don't think she's straight, but I do think she likes men, and I hadn't done polysexual yet. So here we are.



Livvy:

  * Cis female
  * She/Her
  * GAY AF
  * Why? Well, she married Quinlin for convenience and never felt anything for him, so he was basically her beard. ~~Does the term apply to lesbians? I know beard is for a gay guy's fake girlfriend but _does it work the other way around_?~~ Anyway, she and Quinlin got married so no one found out she was gay. 
  * It was also never mentioned why she joined the Black Swan, so it could easily be because of the matchmaking injustice. In Nightfall, Livvy says that her "Black Swan backstory" would take a while to explain, but that could have been her trying to give an excuse when really she didn't want to come out to the group.
  * ~~Also she just seems very gay.~~



Quinlin:

  * Cis male
  * He/Him
  * Queer
  * Why? ~~The alliteration.~~ Livvy was his beard, and he definitely had a thing with Alden.



Alden:

  * Cis male
  * He/Him
  * Unlabeled [m-spec](https://lgbta.wikia.org/wiki/Multisexual)
  * Why? He definitely had a thing with Quinlin, but he also likes girls, so he'd fall somewhere on the multi-attraction spectrum.



**Author's Note:**

> So, I linked most of the more obscure labels but didn't for the more common ones, since I assumed most people would know the term. If you need a definition for something, let me know! Or google it lmao.  
> Anyway, I hope you enjoyed reading my headcanons and explanations! Please comment, and tell me if you agree, have any other evidence for my theories, or have different theories. I hope you enjoyed your stay in the queer cities! *Vanishes in a cloud of rainbow glitter*


End file.
